You can set Sim City 4 to run in windowed mode manually via the -w command line parameter. The steps to take will vary depending on what type of Sim City 4 installation.

Steam install

In your Steam window click Library

Right click on your Sim City 4 Deluxe entry and select properties

Click on set launch options and add the following option:-w

Run the game from your shortcut.

CD Install

Right click on your Sim City 4 shortcut and select properties

In the target field after the quotations put a space and then type:-w
e.g. “C:\Program Files\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe” -w

Run the game from your shortcut.

If you’ve followed the above steps and are still having issues getting Sim City 4 windowed mode to work, please post in the comments below. To increase your chances of a solution being found include as much detail as possible (which version of the game you’re running, what operating system you have, what video card you have and steps to reproduce the issue). Screenshots are also very useful!

I click on the shortcut I made on my desktop and a window opens with the upper left corner in the title bar it says “GDriverWindows–DirectX. The windows stays black and never loads. I did the exact steps and I am running Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (x64). What does this mean?